Health Reform: What Come's Next

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May 11, 2010

What Comes Next

The recent passage of national health care reform legislation is an important step toward providing millions of Americans with access to health insurance. However, significant steps remain to be taken in order to achieve the goals established in the legislation. Specifically, greater clarification is needed to determine how reform will be implemented and, just as important, there is the challenge of effectively dealing with the critical issue of affordability.

Aetna has been working rigorously to fully assess the near-term and long-term impact of this legislation on their customers and their business. In March, they provided their brokers and customers with a timeline that outlined the various provisions included in the legislation.

They have also received many questions regarding how they will make the necessary changes within their business to help their customers comply with the new law. While many answers are still unclear, Aetna has developed their initial response to many of the questions dealing with the 2010 provisions, including:

Annual and lifetime limits

Dependent coverage

Grandfathering

Pre-existing conditions

Rescissions

Please click here to see their response on these issues. Aetna will continue to keep you updated on a regular basis.

It is important to remember that most of the provisions in the legislation will not go into effect until 2014 or later. The details of implementing legislation can take months, even years to work through the regulatory process. Much of what Congress has passed will require additional regulations to bring further clarity to this new law, and those regulations will truly shape the impact on consumers and employers.

Aetna will continue to play an active role in the detailed discussions during the lengthy implementation process. Their focus going forward will be on taking the time to make sure their get the implementation of reform right and addressing the most significant issue facing our industry – affordability.